Project Background
The UConn Outing Club
The Outing Club at UConn does "anything and everything outdoors!" They host weekly outdoor trips with activities that could be as simple as hiking and yoga to as adventurous as owl spotting and rock climbing.
As one of the largest no-commitment clubs at the University, they have to make sure that for each trip everyone has a ride, the right equipment, and skill level to participate in their activities. Their current communication method is through email and instagram which is mostly used as a one-way communication for news and updates, making it inefficient way to keep up with inquiries from their 1,500 total members and 400 active members have about planned outdoor trips.
UConn Digital Media and Design Senior Project
This project was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Media Design at the University of Connecticut, Stamford Connecticut.
Senior Project Advisor
John Murphy
©2024, Yuri Jimenez
Senior Project Advisor
John Murphy
©2024, Yuri Jimenez
Project Evolution
1st Pivot: Approved project didn't go as planned
Initially, I had planned to design a website for an existing beverage company, and my professors approved of the project. However, mid way through the semester, as I was finishing the website I realized that I didn't have complete creative freedom, which is what I wanted to explore with my senior project.
2nd Pivot: Assumption on audience, and broad scope
I knew I wanted to create something that encouraged other people to go more into the outdoors, so my new project idea emerged: collect stickers as you visit new outdoor places! I sketched out my initial idea and interviewed a few people before I started developing the idea further. Here are some sketches:
After 7 interviews ranging from people interested in the outdoors to those that weren't, it became apparent that if they were not interested in a digital sticker collection or outdoor activities in the first place, they would never even consider downloading such an application. So it was time to investigate further.
Final Direction: Focused audience, narrowed scope
One of my friends invited me to the UConn Outing Club, and I went. That's when I found people who may be interested in an outdoor application. Better yet, it was clear that the board members had trouble with managing rides for everyone (about 200 - 300 people, I was surprised the lecture hall was packed) each week.
Thus, I narrowed down my audience to UConn Outing Club members. As the year was ending and I was already behind, I decided to scrap my sticker collection idea and narrow the scope of the project to focus managing rides for the UConn Outing Club.
UConn Outing
A mobile application (fully interactive Figma prototype) called "UConn Outing" that streamlines ride management so that club members can spend less time worrying about rides and gear, and more time planning for trip activities or studying.
Get To Know The Users
I interviewed a couple of club members asking them questions about why they joined the Outing Club, what information they would need when making a decision on which trips to go, and what are other tasks they needed to get done as part of the club.
In the end, due to time constraints, I narrowed my audience further to focus on regular club members rather than tackle both the regular club members (any UConn student) and e-board members (core members that make decisions on trips and manage the club).
Wireframes
Structuring how the information would flow based on user tasks I have determined after interviewing outing club members.
Since all club members can only be UConn students, I decided that they could login to their account through UConn HuskyCT (this verifies you are a current student or faculty of the University of Connecticut).
Style Direction
The challenge with the style direction was that the application should feel like it is part of the UConn ecosystem while still having its own personality that is unique to the Outing Club.
First Prototype and Iterations
For my first prototype, I got an overwhelming amount of positive feedback:
- "Layout is clear and everything had room to breath"
- "You achieved the goal of making it feel part of UConn, while still giving it personality through the illustrations"
- "I love the colors you chose, they don't distract from the information I need if I were to register for a trip"
There were still things I had to tidy up based on feedback:
- "Some illustrations feel out of place"
--- for my first prototype I used stock illustrations as placeholders, but I addressed that as I finished the project
--- for my first prototype I used stock illustrations as placeholders, but I addressed that as I finished the project
- "Some interactions feel choppy"
--- I took some time to think about the micro-interactions with the application for the final version
--- I took some time to think about the micro-interactions with the application for the final version
- "The illustrations are round and bubbly, but the interface is sharp edges and doesn't feel as welcoming
--- For the final iteration, I increased whitespace around some elements further and rounded off the corners of a lot of elements including trip cards, images, and buttons.
--- For the final iteration, I increased whitespace around some elements further and rounded off the corners of a lot of elements including trip cards, images, and buttons.
- "Why is the ride information under the trip information"
--- I created a clear separation so there is no duplicate information between pages, and each tab has a specific purpose
--- I created a clear separation so there is no duplicate information between pages, and each tab has a specific purpose
Final Mockups
Project Takeaways
At first I felt like it was a massive set back to start a new project from scratch midway through the semester while everyone else in my senior class were already halfway with their projects. I also struggled a lot with coming up with a new idea for an application.
My Three Takeaways From This Project
1. The user experience is clear when you solve a very specific problem for a specific user
2. Understanding your constraints and limitations help you find creative solutions that you may have not found otherwise
3. Some times, you just need to watch someone else interact with your product and listen to their thoughts or feedback, to come up with ideas and solutions
Special Thanks To
I'm trully grateful for my friend, Megan Flinn, who introduced me to the Outing Club, and my professor John Murphy who guided me through pivoting and finding a new direction for my project.
